


No Following

by Kamu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Movie Night, No fightin' (Shakira Shakira), Spoilers for Pidge, They watch the Iron Giant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-24 18:50:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7519342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamu/pseuds/Kamu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s movie night in the Castle Ship Altean Fortress, and each Paladin discovers a bit more about one another on this night of all movie nights.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Following

Actually, it’s Hunk who recommends it first at what might have been breakfast. No one could tell what time of day it was. You know, with the whole _space_ thing.

“Like, I just thought we needed some nostalgia for once.” He shrugs, as he nervously eats his space gumbo. “I mean, it can’t hurt, right? Right?”

“Hunk, are you suggesting _movie night?_ ” Lance says, rubbing his chin in approval. He jostles Hunk in the shoulder. “I’m all for it. I miss watching a good movie. They _never_ had anything good on at the Garrison cafeteria. Just hundreds years old training videos. Man, they really need to update those. They remind me of getting my driver’s license for the first time.”

“Movie?” Allura repeats.

“You can drive?” Shiro exclaims.

“No way,” Pidge says, turning to the Princess. “You have all this advanced technology and a method to put you to sleep for 10,000 years. How do you not know movies? Please don’t be that oblivious trope!”

“Hey, can I file a complaint to the Garrison from way out here?” Lance asks Keith, who sits next to him, blank-faced as he watches their exchange. “They have got to have a HR department to go to. You’ve probably been there before.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Keith says, an edge to his voice.

“Oh no,” Shiro says at the end of the table. He keeps shooting concerned glances at Lance.

“It means,” Lance begins, straightening in his chair for some reason. The reason was Keith.

Allura sighs, sensing where this was going.

“It means?” Keith says, waving his fingerless gloved hands. Who wears gloves to the table? someone thinks, probably Pidge, the fashion sensible of the five (plus two Alteans), or most likely Lance, the fashion current of the seven.

“It means,” Lance says, lips turning up at the corners, “that you, flunkie, have more experience with paperwork and technicalities and whatnot.”

“That does it.” Keith stands up. He points at Lance and gestures with his thumb to the door. “We’re taking this outside.”

“All riiiiight.” Lance pushes back his chair and grins. “Those are fighting words. Let’s do this.”

“Yes, let’s do this!” Hunk unexpectedly announces, shooting up out of his chair.

“Huh?” KLance say in sync.

Pidge sidles up besides the two and punches them hard in the back. “Yeah, let’s show the Princess and Coran how movie night goes on planet Earth,” they say. Their glasses do the opaque glinting thing. If Lance wasn’t scared stiff and feeling a bit numb, he would voice their Evangelion Reference technique as an 11 out of 10.

“That sounds great,” Shiro says, an easy smile on his face as he ushers Keith and Lance near the door. He holds a hand out, waiting for Allura to pass. “We’re kind of in limbo after all this non-stop fighting. It _has_ been a long time since I’ve watched some television.”

“What’s your favorite genre or movie?” Pidge asks, walking next to him.

“Hm.” Shiro taps his fingers to his chin. “I loved Ghibli when I was younger. All the shows I used to keep track of are probably over now.”

“Oh,” Lance smirks, seemingly recovered from Pidge’s back attack, “you were one of _those_ kids, huh, Shiro?”

“What?” Shiro blinks.

Hunk elbows Lance. “Hey, don’t be like that.”

“I know, I know,” Lance grumbles. For some reason, two people have hit him today. He hasn’t been that much of an ass as far he knew. For one, Keith hasn’t unintentionally hit on him yet. Now _that_ he looks forward to.

“You don’t have much to say,” Hunk says. “You were obsessed about the Eva movies for a good few years. It’s the whole _reason_ you even decided to become a pilot—”

“Shh!” Lance conjures a space candy from his jacket and shoves it into Hunk’s mouth. Hunk, though startled, automatically chews. “Dude, what if this was poison? Don’t do that on reflex.”

“Mmnn nuuo,” Hunk replies, shrugging.

“Anime? You hesitate to speak of _anime?”_ Pidge says, incredulous. “You guys are ridiculous. You realize all of us are living an anime plot made into reality?”

“Obliterate the entire fourth wall, why don’t you,” Coran says, off screen.

“Where are we headed?” Keith asks, the decided voice of reason.

“We’re already here,” Allura says.

“The control room?” Shiro says.

“Yes.” Allura heads toward her control station and boots up a widescreen monitor. “You all did say you would be observing something, correct?”

“Aha,” Lance intones. He shoots her finger guns in understanding. He starts heading toward a blue circular spot on the floor.

“What are you doing?” Keith asks.

Lance maneuvers himself in what appears to be a sitting-on-the-toilet position over the glowing circle. “Uh, duh.” When Keith gives him a frown, Lance gestures to his hanging butt. “Home theater, my naive and sheltered child.”

The others have also moved to their respective circles. Hunk has done a plank across his circle, his back angled toward the screen at an impressive 45 degrees. “What is going on?” Keith says, feeling left out as he moves to his own color-coded circle.

“Hold on, I am simply waiting for the signal to connect,” Coran tuts. The loading screen finishes and he presses a button on the same monitor. “There we go.”

The circles on the floor divide and slowly the chairs rise. Hunk thankfully slumps onto his seat belly down and Lance molds into his chair. The others sit down as they see fit.

“You mentioned a signal?” Shiro asks once he gets comfortable.

“We needed a connection to your home planet,” Allura explains. She shakes her head as a chair rises for herself. None of them knew she had a chair. Coran, meanwhile, pulls one up to his front row spot out of nowhere. “I apologize for it taking so long to boot.”

“Princess,” Pidge says, “we may live in a more civilized and technologically advanced society, but this,” they gesture to the entire screen that takes up nearly half the room, “is not slow. Where can I even begin to tell you about Wi-fi in a thunderstorm.”

“You would have to explain what a thunderstorm is on Earth,” Allura says, “because I doubt it is the same thing on ours.”

“Those poor orange men,” Coran says sadly.

“Um, what?” Lance says when no context is provided.

“By the time I’m done explaining in metaphors about how people are rain, the movie will be over,” Pidge says. They miss Lance’s “:3c” face as they press a panel on the arm of their chair and begin swiping at the small screen. “Wow, look at this. The selection is amazing. I wonder if this is legal...”

“Shiro, no shitty entry level noob anime, got it?” Lance calls out as he swipes across his own screen. “The space Wi-fi can only take so much.”

“Nausicaa and titans are _not_ ‘noob’, as you so narrowly put it,” Shiro defends, contemplating the window of movie titles.

“At least tell me you don’t like Jian Comic Offline,” Lance says, deciding to press his fingers over a bunch of selections like elevator buttons.

“Space Wi-fi sounds lame,” Pidge says, looking up from the screen. “Space-fi? Spa-fi?”

Lance snaps his fingers at the same time Pidge slaps their knee.

“Spy-fy!” they say at once.

“Dude, I feel our bond has strengthened,” Lance says, lifting a fist.

“I feel it, too,” Pidge agrees, also lifting their fist so they can do an air bump.

“Why would you watch something like that?” Keith asks, slightly horrified. He’s been asking a lot of questions. He doesn’t like feeling out of loop.

“What language are they speaking in?” Allura asks Coran.

“I’ve done some research. They’re letting themselves be known as ‘weebs’,” Coran incorrectly informs. “Keith here has mistaken the Earthly Chinese word ‘Jian’ for sword as ‘jian’ for bastard.”

“Do not ever say that word,” Hunk pleads. “The day I get accused as the w-word should have never come. I get enough teasing being called a koreaboo.”

“Hey, I don’t think we can watch all of these at once.” Pidge points to the screen. There is a tug-of-war happening between the five controls for what should play next.

“I thought of it first,” Hunk says, showing his list for reality TV shows and the occasional subtitled drama.

“Well, I have good taste,” Lance shoots back, offering up his short selection of animated series that have at least 120 episodes each. One is different from the rest; it’s a telenovela.

(“It has optional subs, _”_ Lance says with an eyeroll. “I prefer watching it without, buuuut I’ll be considerate and let you guys understand what I’m hearing.”)

“I like classics,” Shiro says, shrugging at his moderate list of popular shows from a variety of media.

“I, for one, prefer detective and doctor shows,” Pidge says. They showcase their favorites, each with short seasons but long hour length episodes.

“Uh."

They inspect Keith’s stand-out choices to watch.

“I remember watching these on Saturday mornings,” Lance says. Keith can’t decide if he should glare or smile thankfully. He doesn’t sound admonishing. “Superheroes and ninja reptiles. Go figure.”

The others all nod. Keith takes it as a good sign.

“We can only watch one,” Coran pipes in.

The reminder rings ominous.

Before anything can take place, their windows cut off. Allura waves her hand, a remote clutched in her fingers.

“We must all agree to something,” she says. “If only one person enjoys it, the experience for the rest is meaningless. I assume just one of these is an hour long. That is a blessing that we would have such a break at a time like this.” Her other hand hovers over two buttons, one for the screen and the other presumably for their chairs. “Pick one we will all like. Soon.”

Keith realizes after a moment that Allura was talking to him. His screen remains at his hand, waiting to be touched.

“Why me?” he asks.

Allura smiles. “The reason is because you chose something familiar the others know of.” She pauses. “I will leave the choice to you. What do you deem appropriate for the audience, namely us seven here?”

“I have nothing against anime, but I’m fine with a cartoon with a little historical context,” Hunk says.

“It has to have good animation,” Lance chimes.

“A meaningful theme,” Shiro includes.

“It needs to keep me on my toes,” Pidge calls out.

“Will there be robots?” Coran inquires.

Lance opens his mouth.

“Don’t say it,” Hunk interrupts. “This is family time, not psychological angel torture time.”

Lance closes his mouth and crosses his arms.

Keith stares at his screen. Everyone had voiced out their opinion and preferences. Everyone except…

“What would you like to see, Princess?” Keith asks.

Allura blinks and then claps her hands. “Whatever will make us all happy,” she says, “and something I will remember fondly for the days to come.”

Keith nods, absorbing the new information. He flips through his screen, narrowing his options until he finds the one.

“Oh man,” Lance groans when the lights dim and the opening sequence plays, “I’ve got to hand it to you, Keith. This is perfect. Hey, can a robot get me some space popcorn and some tissues?”

He’s glad it’s dark. Keith can attribute his red face to the glow of his chair.

***

“Oh my god,” Pidge wails after the credits roll and the lights brighten. “The Giant is still out there. It’s gonna come back. The dramatic irony hurts so good.”

“Stop.” Hunk waves his hand in Pidge’s direction. “Let’s not talk about it anymore. I can’t.”

There’s some sniffling in the back. They turn around to where Shiro has his face stuffed into his arm.

“Shiro?” Lance hesitantly calls out.

Shiro waves his free hand. ‘Nothing to see here’ the motion says. The three of them wisely avert their eyes.

“So, what did you think, Allura?” Lance asks to lift the mood.

“It was. It was…” She sits straight in her chair, face indiscernible.

Lance blinks and waves his hand. “It was?”

Allura jumps out of her chair and waves her arms excitedly. “What was this movie? Was this Iron Giant the first of its kind made by man? If so, how did its makers make it so that it was indestructible and capable of intellectual thought? In the end, did the Iron Giant have a soul? Keith, what do you think?” She turns to Keith.

Only, he isn’t in his chair.

“When did he leave?” Pidge asks.

Shiro makes a groaning noise. They turn to him. He raises five fingers and pumps his hand twice.

“Ten minutes ago?” Hunk says. “That’s when…”

“We need to find him,” Lance says. Determination has reformed his face. There are stark, bold lines and immaculate details to his features now. “Keith boy. Did this movie get to you that bad?”

“Whoa, you’re actually concerned for him?” Hunk asks, bewildered.

Immediately, Lance whips out a body cam.

“Quick of me to assume,” Hunk sighs.

After they get up, they go looking for Keith. Shiro excuses himself for a moment. When he gets back, Lance distinctly wonders if his wing looks slightly sharper than earlier. It could be a trick of the light.

They don’t find him for days.

“If he’s gone this long, then he should be fine. He’s eating and this castle is huge. He could be anywhere,” Pidge suggests after the third day.

On the fifth day, Lance makes an announcement.

“I found our boy,” he says, expression grim. His face has returned to its oddly detailed manner from movie night. “I took pics, but it’s better if you see it for yourself.”

Lance leads them to the Red Lion chamber. Inwardly, everyone knocks their heads. Of course he was here.

“Quiet now,” Lance whispers, climbing up the Red Lion’s forelegs toward the head.

Curiously, the Paladins and the Alteans follow.

Lance presses the hatch. It lifts to reveal a sleeping Keith curled up on the floor.

Hunk has to cover his mouth in order not to squeal.

“Aw,” Shiro unabashedly murmurs.

“This is almost adorable,” Pidge observes as Keith grumbles at the brightness and snuggles closer to the pillow clutched in his arms. “What if we cut his hair? Does anyone have a razer? I think an undercut or a side shave would look good. Terminate the mullet forever.”

“That’s cruel and mean,” Lance says. “I like the way you think.”

“No, leave him.” Allura is the first to get down. At the foot of the Red Lion, she turns around and gestures to Lance. “I would like some digital and physical copies of those photos you took. Princess’s orders.”

“Yes, Your Ladyship!” Lance hops off and strides after her, leaving the rest to silently coo down at a napping Keith.

Lance makes chatter as they walk down the hallway. “These photos are so high-def, though. If I ever get back to Earth, can I take one of these with me? It might be better than my actual Polaroid. It’s such good quality I can probably see Keith’s pores.”

“Indeed?” Allura doesn’t know what to do with this information. “Perhaps only show me the cute pictures? I would not want to get too familiar with Keith’s, er, sweat glands, I think you call it.”

“Oh, then I got a ton of those. And, I don’t think you have to worry about getting to know Keith too closely. Let’s keep it a secret between us, yeah?” Lance flips through the photos with his tongue sticking out, oblivious to how Allura stares. “Keith is pretty transparent sometimes.”

“What do you mean?” she asks after they walked for a while down the hall.

“He left at the part where the Iron Giant flew into space to save the town from the missile. It muttered, ‘Superman’ before it exploded, remember?” Lance nods, as if satisfied after solving a lengthy puzzle. “Keith looks like he gets inspiration from Superman. He’s got the color scheme down pat. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a comic nerd, too. His movie choices says it all.”

“Can you elaborate for me?” Allura patiently asks.

“A hero.” Lance looks up and grins. “Keith wants to be a hero. It’s no wonder why he looks up to Shiro so much.” He says this wryly. At some point, he had stopped fidgeting with the camera.

“Lance.” Allura stops and Lance stops as well. “You are no lesser than Shiro or anyone else. I thought I did not have to remind that you are all Paladins, who fight and work together. Your positions are all equal.” She raises her hands and squeezes his shoulders. “You have to know that.”

Lance laughs. “This is the part where you kiss me and say I take only one special place in your heart,” he says, quirking an eyebrow.

Allura retracts her hands. “You know what I mean,” she says, backing off and walking ahead. “Keith is also a person with feelings. You can’t read his heart. Only a cannibalistic species from 11,000 years ago could do that.”

“For real? That’s like that Nicki Minaj song.” Lance grins. “Thanks for the consolation, Allura.”

Allura smiles, humming as the mice (?) scamper after her.

Lance feels something is off as he watches her go. He straightens and feels his clothes. His body camera is missing.

“I’ll be taking these,” Allura trills, twirling the camera on her fingers as the doors slam shut behind her.

Lance realizes too late they had already arrived at the control room and he had unknowingly been fooled into being shut out. “Oh, come on,” he groans as he presses against the doors that would stay closed.

He slumps with his back against the doors. Pretty people always had their way with him.

 _Not all the time,_ he thinks.

He digs around in his jacket and pulls out a picture. He didn’t voice it earlier, but it was implied he had found Keith on the same day he told the rest. That, indirectly, was untrue. In reality, Lance had found Keith in his Lion right away.

Lance had found Keith after he had fallen asleep, worn out from crying. His nose was slightly red and there were dried tear tracks across the bridge of his nose, pooling on the floor where his cheek rested. He looked cold. His arms were clutched around him as if to protect him from something.

This image, of an emotionally vulnerable Keith, was not what he had taken. What he had in his hand was the image of Keith cuddling Lance’s arm as he had tried to clean up his face and jostle him awake.

That’s when Lance got the idea to sneak a pillow into the hatch.

On his way back to the Red Lion chamber, Lance crossed paths with Coran.

“By the way, Keith is in the Red Lion chamber. I don’t know how long he’ll be in there, so maybe leave him some meals from time to time?” Lance had stopped, clutching the pillow and blanket to him as he considered. “Let’s give him space.”

Coran, though flustered, immediately agreed. Somehow, he didn’t slip a word to the other Paladins, not even to the Princess. Lance feels like he deserves some kind of medal for his restraint.

He looks at the picture again. Keith did look kind of cute, nuzzling the arm of his most spiteful comrade like Lance was his own personal pillow.

He tucks it away as he hears the telltale signs of a disgruntled Keith thundering down the hall.

The picture is the one secret he can keep from his friends. Just the one.

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking earlier that there was no way I could ship anyone, yet after having finished writing this, I had realized too late I had unintentionally forced myself into a corner and this came to be. The fool that I was to think this would be a Gen fic. Thanks for reading. Heck there may even be a continuation. (Team Voltron Voice) Yeah!!


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